i have put my 91 formula back together, and about the headlights. the headlights on each side hang down below the nose and if they are not flush with the fenders on the front of the headlight, they hang down about a half inch in front. is their a way i can adjust them to bring them back up?

thanks,
pontiackid

 

Sounds like your bottom stop needs to be adjusted out. Remove the headlight lamp and you will see two screws with a square plastic nut on the end, one up towards the top of the housing and one near the bottom. Adjust the bottom one out (counterclockwise) until it's flush.

 

so i leave the headlight bracket in, and just pull out the headlight lense part, and this will make teh bracket part raise up higher? sorry for the confusion.

 

Yes, leave the bracket and motor in. After you get the lamp out you should see the screw stops.

 

The the 10mm bolts that hold bracket assy provides a means of adjusting as well. Getting everything to line up- hood, head lights, fenders, and bumper cover is a pain.

 

You can even adjust the light covers (the part the isn't flush) to come up a bit. The screws holding them on are screwed into somewhat slotted holes. Just loosen the screws and push up a bit on the cover. It give you that extra half inch.

 

thanks guys, got it all adjusting useing both methods( the cover itself and the adjusters). looks great now!

 

10 years since the last reply, but lets give it a go

On my 91 Fbody, i tried flushing out the headlight, did almost everything, no succes

In this post, removed the headlight but can't seem to find the stops that are mentioned.
When i only remove the headlight unit, where are those stops exactly?!

Thanks!

 

The stops aren't adjustable on the later cars, they're cast into the housing. That's not really how the headlight assemblies are supposed to be aligned anyway. There are two 10mm bolts under the car, and two brackets with 10mm bolts that anchor the headlight assemblies to the radiator support. Loosen the four bolts, re-position the headlight assembly as required, and snug them back up.

If it's REALLY far off, say accident damage, or someone removed bolts they should have left alone, the bolts that hold the brackets to the headlight housing can also be adjusted.

The cover is not adjustable by design. The GM Service Manual describes how to adjust the assemblies, if you have access to the manual.

 

Thanks Drew

To give some insights on what I Did
- I know the 10mm slotbolts on top - These are the 2 brackets with 10mm you're talking about right?
- the 2 10mm beneath the car where removed from one assemblie, that light unit shook.
while driving. These are the 2 you mean with the '2 bolts under car' right

I have tried a lot, but there's always one thing that "goes wrong"
We are talking about the driversside headlight. When standing in front of it, you have 1, 10mm bolt right behind the assemblie. Every time I tighten that bolt when I think I have it flush, whilest tighting it goes to far up.

Does it sound familiar?
If I can work around that issue, then the problem is solved

thanks

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so let's try this...

There are 8 bolts, and 3 brackets per headlight assembly. 4 of the bolts retain the mounting brackets to the headlight housing, the other 4 retain the brackets to the body.

Generally, the adjustment is going to depend MORE on the bolts that retain the brackets to the body. They're the bolts or bolt holes circled in Yellow in the photos.

In the event that the adjustment is grossly off, there is some potential for adjustment in the bracket to housing bolts, circled in Red in the photos.

Beyond that, I'd be looking at the housing, brackets, or radiator support for bent parts. Fortunately the brackets are all square/flat/90* bends, so they're fairly easy to tweak back to square if they're bent.

 

Awesome pics, Drew. Thanks for sharing those.

 

Foo Fighters wrote a song long time ago...

Hero!!!!!

This is awesome!
Will have go later today and study your pics

Thank you and yes; a picture does say more then a thousand words!

 

Small Update

Haven't had time to actually do some work, but have been studying the pictures and I have found / understand what is wrong with my headlight

It was mentioned earlier in this thread but couldn't visualise it.
I have added one of Drew's pics but turned it so it's in the right angle.
And that gave me the Eureka: I only unbolted the two upper bolts(yellow), but never knew of the existence of the two (yellow) below. My console was missing the two bolts below (red) and I replaced them, but never knew of the other two...

This weekend, I'll have a go with my dad so he can help me flushing this baby!

Thanks Drew

 

I have an 85 firebird and i cant seem to adjust it i dont see the bolts ur talking about and the newer housing looks different, havent tried taking the bulb outnand the 2 screws the one guy said but is it any diffrent on the older ones?

 

the 1985 unit is functionally no different from what is pictured above for adjustment to the body.

the 85 unit should have the adjustable stops on the inside but if they haven't been played with should be left alone.